Day one at SIGGRAPH 2009 in New Orleans did not start well for
me. After an incredible meal at “Johnny's” not far away from
the hotel (crabmeat au gratin), I had an allergic reaction to the
shellfish and was up all night with a swollen throat and killer
headache. Very hard to get going this morning, but with the help of
Allen Touissant's music (that New Orleans new jazz will definitely
get you out of your blues for the day), I got myself together. And
after going over notes/schedule for the day at the Media Room
(doesn't seem to be as many reporters hanging out this year), I
hustled over to La Nouvelle Orleans Ballroom for Randy Thom's
keynote address on the sound/image collaborative process.

The Ballroom is huge with probably 1500 seats and about half of
them occupied. I was pleasantly surprised that the conference
chair, Ronen Barzel, started the event off with an overview of the
conference and quick outline of events and where to get help. I
don't remember this happening last year, but it certainly was a
nice touch. He's obviously a down-to-earth guy with a great
personality. There were two stages on either side of a huge screen,
with two more smaller screens above each stage. Certainly easy to
see and hear. And thank God the A/C isn't over-cranking so that
it's freezing. It's a good space for this type of event.

Randy Thom
eventually made it on the stage a bit late, but very welcome. He's
had a remarkable career in sound and is currently the Director of
Sound Design at Skywalker Sound. He focused on two films and used
clips from each to demonstrate his ideas about how sound can have a
huge impact on a film if it is brought in earlier in the process.
Clips from “Apocalypse Now” and “Wall-E” made a huge
impression in the Ballroom because of the excellent sound system
and stage managing.

He spoke of the film experience of working on “Apocalypse”
(he spent a week creating the sounds of flies buzzing at the
beginning of the film) as being his film school because everything
happened on that film. He made the case that production of Animated
films might be more receptive to using sound sooner. “Wall-
E”used sound design to compliment the animation process right
from the beginning of the process. Something that bore fruit in
developing a collaborative relationship between the sound designer
and director. Mr. Thom stayed after and answered questions in one
corner of the Ballroom for about a half hour. People just couldn't
get enough.

Headed over to have lunch with my friend, Bill Lessard and his
wife, Judith. They rented a car and took me out to an excellent
greek restaurant in the uptown area of New Orleans. Bill does the
PR for Reallusion. I met him last year at the Los Angeles
SIGGRAPH. This year, he and John Martin plan to give a sneak peak
of iClone 4 and other Reallusion products. Bill and Judith
are great conversationalists and by the end of the meal, I was
feeling much better both physically and mentally. The ride back to
the Warehouse district was a lot of fun and I got to see some
wonderful houses and the mighty fine Charles St. Streetcar. Judith
had lived in New Orleans years ago and knew the history of the city
backwards and forwards. When they dropped me at my hotel, I was
happy but ready for a nap.

Refreshed, I headed over to catch the last of the Visual Music
Talks and, boy, I could kick myself for not catching some of the
earlier talks. Bonnie Mitchell & Elaine Lillios gave a talk on
“Experimental Animation and Sound” where they
explained some of their collaborative methods and showed clips from
some of their fascinating films. What struck me was how creative
these films were. One installation they created actually created an
active interaction with sound and visuals for a single observer.
They were very interested in creating an immersive experience for
the viewer/listener. I only wished their talk could have gone on
for another hour.

Then on to the Animation Festival awards, where four awards were
given out in rather perfunctory fashion (I guess I'm used to the
nine yards that Hollywood usually gives out on these kinds of
things). Best of Show went to “French Roast”; Jury Award to
“Dix”; Student Prize to “Project Alpha” and the WTF Prize
(Well Told Fable) went to the “Unbelievable Four”. Immediately
after the awards there was a too-short demonstration of real-time
render films/demos which were absolutely wonderful. A short session
from a game called “Flower,” built for the PS3 had everyone's
eyes bugging it was so beautiful. The other demos were equally
interesting, with one from EA's “Fight Night 4,” pitting Will
Wright against Mike Tyson in a live boxing match. Of course, you
know who won, don't you? Delightful and hard to believe it's all
done live in real-time using the GPU.

Lastly, the Jury Reel played out in a very dark and quiet
theater. I could only stay for one reel but, as usual the quality
of the animation was spectacular. I hate to disagree with the jury,
but after seeing “Anima”, an extraordinary experimental
animation from France, I was left wondering how anything could be
better. Fortunately, all of the other films were superb with
“Alma” by Rodrigo Blaas, “French Roast” by Fabrice O.
Joubert, “friends?” by Sveinbjorn J. Tryggvason and “Who's
Gonna Save My Sole” by Chris Milk (a big crowd pleaser).

What's so impressive about almost all of these films aside from
their obvious technical sophistication is the creativity behind
each one. That's why the SIGGRAPH Animation Festival is really one
of the most remarkable parts of the conference. Each film is like a
perfect dream; some are nightmares and others are paradise. Still
more are absurd or hilariously strange. Each filmmaker achieves
complete immersion in the story they are telling or the world they
are creating. And it is incredibly inspiring to see this kind of
work and to understand something about how it was made. To have all
of these films in one place and to be able to meet/discuss the
films with some of the directors is an invaluable experience that
can only make my own work better.

And that's why SIGGRAPH is such an important event for Computer
Graphics: it's about coming away from it inspired and excited. And
there are four more days of this? Wonderful.

Time to go as I've got a long day tomorrow that starts very
early. See ya!

Ricky will be reporting on daily events at SIGGRAPH 2009. Be
sure to check the Renderosity Front Page News each day this week for
updates!

Ricky
Grove [gToon], Staff Columnist with the Renderosity Front
Page News. Ricky Grove is a bookstore clerk at the best bookstore
in Los Angeles, the Iliad Bookshop. He's also an actor and
machinima filmmaker. He lives with author, Lisa Morton, and three
very individual cats. Ricky is into Hong Kong films, FPS shooters,
experimental anything and reading, reading, reading. You can catch
his blog here.

August 4, 2009

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